Basic Training
by TheManTimeForgot
Summary: Part 6 of 'The Nexus Crusade': With a new purpose, the team buckles down...
1. New Challengers and World Warriors

_This Hild…is a ruler of demons; carrying a incredible amount of unholy power. Gamma tells us that there is a human with the power to stop her, but that ability exists in the spirits of all men. We now travel with the purpose to extend our strength across the stars…_

"Rho, you'd better be sure about this, we should be looking for Epsilon-"

"It could take an eternity to find him," I reassured Gamma. "If we take down Hild first, she can tell us where he is. Now, I've heard about a strong martial artist in this area of Japan, and I'm the only one of us who can search for them immediately, seeing as I'm the only one with period clothing."

"Just hurry up." He said, cutting off the transmission. I didn't need to rush I was close to my destination judging by the crowd. They stood in front of a worn down building, recently patched up by the looks of it. Moving past the masses I caught the words on the sign.

"_Rindo-kan Karate…not a style I'm familiar with," _I thought. _"But fighting has a different tempo than back home, I need to figure it out quickly."_

Inside was a match between two martial artists, one of whom was a young woman wearing a bright yellow scarf around her neck and the black belt of a First Dan binding her gi. I must have come late in the fight, for her opponent looked out of steam. Before another punch could be thrown he collapsed and withdrew from the match. They bowed to each other but the irritation on the woman's face was apparent despite her attempts to hide is.

"Is this all?" She asked. "Will anyone else face me?"

I took that as a challenge and stepped into the sparring ring. Covering my right fist with my left hand I bowed to her, making sure to keep eye contact.

"With your permission, I will accept your challenge."

She repeated my gesture and moved into right-angle stance. Assuming the same stance I began to bounce on the front of my feet. As I made my first step she closed the distance faster than it should have been possible for a teenage girl. She also hit harder than she should have; considering the welt on my shin from a quick inside kick. I hadn't put up much offence; I had just wanted to see what she could do. Rolling out of the way of a snap kick, she leaped up into the air and came down with a falling heel to my forehead with enough force to stagger me.

"Stop messing around!" Her demand bounced around my head.

"If it were possible…to get your name?"

"Is that what it will take to get you to fight?" Her faced tightened and her skin began to flush. "Makoto."

"Thanks." I said. This time Makoto raised her right hand up across her head and her left was extended at me. I felt a large gust of wind rush past me and the people were awed by it as it circled around her. I bet they only saw her disappear after that, but I saw her clear as day charging as fast as any one of my friends. I moved one meter to the side, completely bypassing that attacks. Makoto's eyes jittered around in her sockets from the shock that I avoided her. I used a solid side kick to her flank to send her crashing to the ground. The dojo erupted with noise at the astonishing upset, but I knew it was not over.

Makoto shuddered back to life, her skin beet-red, teeth clenched into a wall of white, and eyes shooting daggers into my flesh. Before the bout could continue, she stood down and walked to address a new foe. He was twice her height, at least three-hundred pounds of muscle. Bandages were wrapped around his hands and feet, and only wore a pair of trunks leaving his scarred chest visible to gawk at. He looked down at her with his one good eye. His voice was like the growl of a beast.

"I've been looking for you."

"And why is that?"

"I have heard that Ryu had came here to fight you," He moved into the traditional stance of Muay Thai Kickboxing. "I wanted to see why that is."

"Well I'm kind of in the middle of a fight right now."

He looked over at me, his empty eye observant. "Very well, I will wait until your match has concluded."

"No," I retorted, walking to him. "She's too good to waste her time fighting me, then you. If you are better than me, you deserve to fight Makoto at her best."

"That is true. But can you beat me?" He inquired. "I am Sagat, the King of Muay Thai!"

"You can call me Rho, and I will not disappoint you." I said back and began to fight. I knew his art: close quarters, using a blend of elbows and knees. I stuck with him, arms and legs flying with both speed and accuracy. I missed this kind of fighting, no demands, no stakes, just the fighters, the ring, and the impact of a fierce blow. I landed good strikes, but Sagat held his ground.

Separating from another engagement I thought about my next move. On the other hand, Sagat began to clutch something close to his chest with both hands. I first thought it was his scar acting up but orange lightning began to spread between the gap. He stretched out his arms toward me and a large fireball erupted from his fists. Instead of moving, I placed my hands out to catch it, the force almost knocking me back. Once I had control of it, I spread it out and away from myself, the fire dissipating harmlessly.

I needed this fight to end, and so I pressed my advantage as he recovered, and in a snap I sent a jab past his guard and broke a rib. Sagat felt the injury, and relented.

"I concede." His rejected surrender made me sad as well; I did not want to win this way.

"Please stay and watch us." My respect came through to him and he stood in the front while I fought against Makoto again with a smile on my face. But a I saw her, another opponent was in the corner of my mind, one dressed in black and red…

_Do not worry, when we meet again I will be much stronger. It will be a crowning achievement, my greatest competitor, to stand in the arena with you._


	2. Springtime in Tosa

"Come on Alex, it isn't that hard!"

Makoto has some strange friends, I was going to leave but when this six foot transfer student from Kenya showed up, I couldn't pass up learning more from her. I was doing my best to match her handstand but fifteen minutes was my limit and I collapsed. The girl, Elena, chuckled at me and fell over herself, looking over to me.

"Your pretty good, I've never seen Capoeira used in that fashion before." I commented while standing up.

"Everyone else takes the dance too seriously," Elena said from the ground. "Just let the beat carry you!"

"I will." Giving a slight bow to her I left the dojo with content. It was dusk and it was a long way to get to the guys from here in Tosa. Turning the communication disk on there was a commotion on the other end. Now running, I tried to hail anyone.

"Psyche! What's going on over there?"

_"We've been compromised! Check yourself, they know you're out there!"_

The instant she said that, I was shoved down by an unknown force with a purple aura outside of town. Tumbling and coughing up dust, I saw the culprit: a woman with dark hair and purple eyes, the left one glowing. She wore quite little, even disregarding shoes. She walked towards me, looked down and lifted my head with her foot.

"Where is it?" She demanded.

"Beats me." My words brought me a kick to the face. The assailant placed a hand over her face in exasperation.

"Look, I know you have some kind of personal energy generator, that's how I found you out here. So you can either give me the device and I beat you to an inch of your life, or you can play dumb and I kill you right now." I noticed she was licking her lips. "To be honest with you, I'd rather you fight back; it'll make this trip to nowhere not a complete waste."

I got to my feet and prepared to fight. "Then let's get this over with." She was spry and agile, putting together quick combinations of kicks. As I dodged and looked for an opening, I noticed that the attacks coming in faster than they should have. Standing my ground I sent a left cross her way, which she avoided and hit me with a hooking kick from behind her back. Thinking she had staggered me, she tried for a punch which I blocked and countered with an elbow to her face. She refused to fall but was forced to disengage. She worked her jaw and spat out some blood.

"Well, well…" Her voice was filled with delight. "It looks like I'll have some fun with you after all." She began to strike even faster now, limbs stopping and starting in unnatural ways, and all the time wearing a twisted smile on her face. At the first opportunity I saw, I sent a inside kick to her shin. Before it could connect, she had dashed behind me and I turned into a massive blow to my chest. Throwing caution to the wind I hit her with alternating jabs that no person could weather, and as she was dazed I brought her down with a flying knee technique I learned from Sagat. Walking up to her form, I knelt down and looked closer; her moveset was a variant of the _kwans _of Korea, but I wonder how she learned it.

My thoughts were disrupted by a car coming up the dirt road which stopped in front of me. Out of the car stepped another woman in a light blue Chinese dress, her brown hair wrapped in two buns, and had large spiked bracelets.

"What happened here?" She asked.

"And you are?"

The new stranger reached into her car and pulled out a badge.

"Chun-Li, Chinese Interpol. I've been looking for this one for quite some time."

"Psyche, what is Interpol?" I muttered.

_"Short for __**Inter**__national Criminal __**Pol**__ice Organization. Maybe you'll listen to my briefings next time."_

"Of-Officer!" I quickly got t my feet. "I was assaulted by this woman, but how did you know I was here? This isn't a commonly used road."

"I had some help." She said, and Elena came from the passenger's seat.

"Something in the wind felt wrong when you left, so I helped Chun-Li find you."

"Thank you, but I'm not the only one in trouble." I said while picking up her suspect. "My friends need my help, and if she has any answers, I need to get her to them."

"Then we should get going." Chun-Li said, and we piled into the car.


	3. Reclaiming the Purity of the Fist

"And so that's why I came back with this officer." I pointed to Chun-Li busy questioning a young woman on the other side of a window at a police station. "And the girl that ambushed me."

"Okay that makes sense," Gamma, he and the rest of the guys in full armor, crossed his arms. "But why did they come along?" He looked over to Elena, who had sat down on the floor, blissfully humming to herself. Besides her was Makoto, standing up, looking over everything with focus.

"If someone messes with one of my students, they have to answer to me." Makoto said.

"Come on, Alexander is a good person," Elena took the edge off her friends words. "We would have always came to help."

Omega pulled me to the side. "How do you manage to make friend's with the people you fight?"

I laughed at him. "It's because fighting isn't always about hurting the opponent." I looked over toward the mystery woman. "Something that our guest doesn't understand; a tragedy, really."

"In what way?" Upsilon asked, not taking his eyes off the interrogation. Suddenly Chun-Li stood up and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind her. She reached into a pocket and pulled out a package of pocky and began to chew on it.

Omega noticed the irritation on display. "I didn't take you for being a stress eater."

"I've been chasing her for quite some time," Chun-Li grumbled. "I forgot how annoying she was."

"What do you know about her?" Upsilon said.

"I don't know her real name, but she goes by 'Spider'. She is a new agent for a organization known as Shadaloo acting as a scout. Other than that, your guess is as good as mine. She really wants to talk to him though." She flicked her head towards me.

"Me?"

"She wanted to speak to the person who beat her. I'll be right with you, of course, if you're willing to go in there."

I tapped Upsilon on the shoulder. "Hey, can't you just read her mind?"

Upsilon shook his head. "I can only feel surface emotions. You know how they say that a dying person sees their life flash before their eyes? That is how my psychic ability works. I do not think you want me to be in there."

I turned to the window to see Spider on the other side. Although the window was one-way, she turned to look directly at me. Her eye flashed as she slowly waved at me. I took a step back, took my communicator, and then went for the door, Chun-Li right behind me.

"Upsilon, start with any prominent Taekwondo practitioners; as young as twelve to fourteen years of age, most likely from Korea, judging by her technique." I opened the door to find Spider sitting at a table, her hands and feet shackled, still smiling at us as we walked in. I now had a good look at her and I noticed that her garb mirrored Chun-Li's: wearing their hair up in two pieces and both including a pair of spiked bracelets.

"Here's who you wanted." Chun-Li said, authority in her voice.

"You're not going to leave are you?" Spider asked, and got no response back. "Fine, just know I saw him first." She leaned as far as she could over the table towards me. "So, how was it?"

"How was what?" I said, a bit unsettled with the sultry tone she had changed to.

"Our fight. You had fun right, I know I did, you took your sweet time in taking me down."

"I've never had a lot of knockout power. Beating you like I did was something new to me."

"Then I'll teach you a thing or two about it." Her eyes met mine."It's ecstasy: the feel of flesh and bone tearing under stress, the sound of ragged breaths being taken by strained muscles…" Her whole body shuddered as the memories flowed in. "After experiencing that, I couldn't go back to fighting for points instead of blood, and I wasn't going to hold back anymore. So I would suggest ditching Officer Killjoy and let yourself go!"

I was taken aback by her glee, then I heard Upsilon whisper in my ear. "Your estimate was low. I found records of a fifteen year old prodigy named Juri Han. Would be about twenty-five now. Her father was an attorney attempting to prosecute Shadaloo when he and his entire family was abducted, never to be seen again."

He kept going, but I blocked him out, I couldn't handle knowing that a girl had been subjected to ten years of the worst aspects of humanity. I had to fight back my tears for a few seconds, until I remembered something.

"Justice and peace…"

Juri stopped gloating. "Say again?"

I focused on her. "Before I ever threw a punch, it was the first thing I learned as a martial artist. I was to use my skill to show everyone what people could be, not just what they could do. That concept came from Taekwondo. I am sorry that you had to go through so much, Juri, but you don't have to do this anymore."

"If I wanted a pity-party, I wouldn't still be here." Me and Chun-Li exchanged glances. "Then again…I am bored…"

Chun-Li pushed me down as Juri forced the table up over me. With little effort she tore off her handcuffs and engaged her, Chun-Li countering with a mix of Taekwondo and Tai-Chi. It was a elegant mix, fast and precise. Juri's eye flashed again, and suddenly the momentum switched to her favor. I stepped in to aid when the mirror blasted inward towards us, and Gamma came through with the glass. On the other side was a woman wearing a blue skintight bodysuit with a mask on her face. In a blink of an eye she moved past Gamma and between Juri and Chun-Li.

"I didn't think they'd send you." Juri addressed.

Her rescuer said nothing but glowed with violet fire and from her hand a ball of energy sprung out and rapidly expanded to consume Chun-Li. I got out in front and caught the ball, feeling a horrific intent, like pure hate, coming from it. As I held it Juri and her fellow agent slipped past. Chun-Li stood next to me and with her help we dispelled it. I helped up Gamma and he immediately tried to chase them down, even though he had a large cut on his cheek.

"Rho," He said. "They took my Amplifier, you've got to get it back."

"Who was that?" I asked.

"Unknown." Upsilon walked in, Makoto and Elena behind him. "Killed most of the officers coming in. We kept the children safe."

"Amplifier?" Chun-Li wondered.

Gamma stopped. "A device of my own creation, able to increase the strength of anyone ten-fold; there's one in each set of our armor. We can't let Shadaloo get their hands on it."

Omega went for the exit. "Rho, we'll take them down. The rest of you stay here!" And we ran out of the station to find them.

"Psyche, can you trace the signal?"

_"Theirs is a strange energy…there is another however."_

Omega cocked his head. "Another agent? Gamma could you find out who it is?"

There was a pause on the other side as he got the answer. "Only one seems to be in the area at the time, his name's Sagat."

He said that as we found him with the Amplifier, Juri beside him. They spotted us and we took up fighting stances. I think my face showed some surprise because Juri stepped up to me.

"You see now? Talk about justice until your throat bleeds, but the truth is that not everyone who fights is noble. The way I heard it from the big guy is that he wants another crack at you, and I thought 'What could I do to help?' and here we are. You up for another street fight?"

"Fine." I said. "But only if it's me and him, with the Amplifier as the prize."

"I accept." Sagat said, tossing the device off to the side. He brought his arms forward, his fists and forearms bound with rope.

"I accept." Sagat said, tossing the device off to the side. He brought his arms forward, his fists and forearms bound with rope. With Omega and Juri as the spectators, we advanced towards each other. His blows were faster than before at the Rindo-kan Dojo, he was holding back then. As I came in, he caught me with a kick to my shin, and then he sent a forearm against my face, the rope there scraping my skin. I had staggered away and caught my breath; my shin throbbing.

_"So this is the King of Muay Thai…" _I thought. It was hard to see a way to win, but I knew I wasn't going down yet, not as long as I could still feel something. I hardened my body, and in response my hands began to glow. I didn't summon any armor, but I had some extra strength.

"Come on!" And I stormed out and met Sagat strike for strike, his kickboxing against the blend of styles I had picked up; the Rindo, Caporica, even the Taekwondo, and Muay Thai I had seen. He shuffled back and sent more of those fireballs at me, alternating high and low. Ducking a low one and jumping the high one I came down with an elbow stunning him and then continuing with punching out with both fists, one at the center of his clavicle and the other at his solar plexus. With a double burst of energy I was able to bring him down, but he just stood up and stared me down with that one eye, its pupil a burning ember clear in the night sky.

I caught Juri's voice off to the side. "My, my, you are full of surprises."

_"Okay I can fight Sagat, but can I beat him?" _The thought rattled around in my head until I noticed Sagat clutching the scar on his chest.

"It has been a long time since I have been challenged in such a way." Sagat noted. "Thank you Alexander."

I had the sinking feeling that his next attack was going to try and kill me, so I decided to not try anything clever and set up with the _Hayate, _or the Gust Punch. The wind picked up as I built up power and the only thing that I needed to worry about was right in front of me. I cut loose and my entire body rocketed forward. Sagat didn't try to block, instead throwing an elbow out to meet me. We exchanged blows, me taking the elbow to my shoulder while he was hit square in the chest. My shoulder was broken, but Sagat collapsed for good. Juri tried to snatch the Amplifier and make a break for it, but Omega cut her off and wagged his finger at her.

"Don't be a sore loser."

Juri took off, leaving Sagat behind. Omega picked up the Amplifier and started cheering.

"That was something else! I had heard you were the best martial artist back home but you pulled off a miracle! You've got to show us how to do that!"

"Later, when we get this mess cleaned up, but you need to go back and get that to Gamma."

"Good idea." He ran back to the police station, and allowed me to think about Sagat. He was a strong opponent, but his nature was that of a competitor, and it seemed like a odd fit for him to run around with Shadaloo until I remembered that he said he was here looking for 'Ryu'…he must have been strong indeed. Perhaps this was an misguided attempt to get strong enough to beat him.

His quest reminded me of the rival I needed to find again. I had trained for years and yet had never reached such strength before I had become augmented, and now that I am, I no longer find merit in my victories, even if others do.

"Then perhaps you need better foes." A loud voice said. "I've been looking for one as well."

Walking around the corner of a building was an large, heavily muscled woman with white messy hair and wearing a small vest and tan jeans. Her aura repulsed me; it was the same as Hild and Mara's!

"You are a demon?" She nodded her head. "And you are?"

"You humans call me Thrym."

"I see that you are a giant," I said. "But to be a Joutann takes something special, and what's so special about you?"

Thrym smiled. "You're injured, so I won't fight you here, but if you want a demonstration," She raised her arms to both sides. "I'll let you hit me first."

I brought out my full strength and summoned my armor, gleaming in the moon light. I ran at her and hit her face with a straight, which connected but she wasn't even affected by it. In fact, it hurt me to be hit by it.

"My turn." The demon calmly slapped me aside with unreal force, and I crashed into a brick wall which fell on top of me. Thrym scratched her head as she saw me dig my way out.

"Ah, didn't mean for that to happen, such fragile things. But you did survive, which means you're worth breaking later. I'll see you then…" She vanished after that and my friends showed up, carrying Chun-Li, Makoto, and Elena on their backs.

Omega and Gamma pulled me up. "I leave you here for a few minutes and you get thrashed, what happened?" Omega asked.

"A demon came here, one with unbelievable strength."

"Then we cannot stay." Gamma went over to Chun-Li and Elena came over to me. She placed her hand over my chest and channeled energy into me, making me healthy again.

"Wow, thanks again." I said. I walked up to Makoto and bowed. "I am sorry, but I cannot continue my training, I have other things to handle at the moment."

Makoto put her hand up. "Apologizing isn't necessary. Just don't forget what I taught you."

"And Sagat?" Upsilon looked down at him.

"He'll be in the custody of Interpol." Chun-Li told him. "Shadaloo can't hide forever."

We said farewell to them and went on our way to places unknown even to us. All I knew was that this fight would be hard. The multiverse is a dark place, and people lose their way often, but if my fighting can give someone hope, then that will be my motivation for getting stronger. Maybe then I will be strong enough to fight her…

* * *

_His rival is…mysterious to say the least. But I can lend a hand when the time comes. I can't say I'm not interested in the outcome._


End file.
